Flowers in the Garden of Life

"Only that which has character is truly beautiful." Gari Melchers

This is my 9 year old (actually he was 8 when I took this picture) wonder boy. He is an big brother or a pest depending on which sibling you ask, a soccer goalie and an artist. He is also my heart.

I was reading somewhere that children are like flowers in the garden of life. I thought it was a swell analogy and it has changed the way I look at my children. So often I don't 'see' them growing in this family garden. I am not paying attention to who the are, who they are becoming. I don't take the time to sit and enjoy what God has planted here. I get distracted by the monotony that plagues a mother - the cleaning, cooking, laundry, correcting, worrying and so on.

Over dinner we decided what type of flower we each were. We agreed that the baby, Liam (who is 5) was a ‘dandelion‘. Tansy was a 'sweet pea'. When it came to Tristan, Tansy piped in, "He's a stinkweed." But he is my ‘sunflower’ hands down. Daddy was unanimously deemed a 'snapdragon' and I took the title of ‘lily‘.